John L. Smith hired by Arkansas for upcoming season

Arkansas is expected to announce that they have hired John L. Smith on an interim basis to replace Bobby Petrino as the head coach of the football team. Smith has 18 years of head coaching experience in college football and is known for his stints at Louisville and Michigan State.

Smith went 41-21 from 1998-2002 as head coach of Louisville and was succeeded by Petrino — his former assistant. He went 22-26 from 2003-2006 at Michigan State before being fired following a 4-8 season.

Smith joined Petrino’s staff at Arkansas as a special teams coach in 2009 and departed after last season to become the head coach at Weber State. Though Arkansas will achieve some continuity by bringing back Smith, what he’s doing to Weber State is pretty crappy.

Smith will be leaving Weber State, his alma mater, without coaching a game for them. He’s walking out on players he recruited less than five months before the new season begins. I guess it was too good of an opportunity for him to overlook; he’s being handed a top-10 program and a chance to put his name back on the map.